Fish and Chipps: Donald Trump’s toxic relationship with sports

Long before he was “Donald Trump, the 69-year-old billionaire businessman and divisive GOP presidential frontrunner, he was simply “Donald Trump, a 37-year-old billionaire businessman looking to make a splash in the sports world.”

That’s right. Three decades before Trump announced that he was running for president and ran around the country screaming about his plans to build his infamous wall along the Mexican border, he was trying to take on the NFL.

This probably comes as somewhat of a surprise to many of my fellow peers. Trump and the NFL? Why hasn’t he ever mentioned his tango with America’s most powerful sports league along the campaign trail?

The answer is simple: It didn’t end well for Trump, and like any good politician, you don’t talk about your losses.

It’s no secret that Trump has always wanted to be a mogul in the sports world, and let’s just say, it hasn’t exactly gone well.

It’s long been known that Trump has wanted to own an NFL team, and luckily, football fans have been spared. (But who knows? That could all change if he wins the presidential election and signs an executive order to take over the Jacksonville Jaguars.)

But forget all of that, because in 1983, long before Trump became the world’s greatest meme and headline, he made his boldest move yet when he bought the New Jersey Generals for a reported $9 million, according to The Washington Post.

The New Jersey Generals?

Yes, them. Yes, they don’t exist anymore. And yes, Donald Trump is the reason why.

This may come as shock to many of you, but once upon a time, a football league called the United States Football League was actually somewhat of a legitimate competitor to the NFL. It was different, but it was cool and had some future stars. Have you ever heard of Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie? Guess where they all started their professional football careers? You guessed it — right in the USFL.

The USFL was a spring league that played from 1983 to 1985, and forever changed the game of football as we know it. It introduced instant replay and the two-point conversation, which were both not part of the NFL at the time. Whereas the NFL looked down upon touchdown celebrations, outrageous halftime shows and gunslinging, the USFL embraced it. Spring football was flashy, fun and full of offense in an era when 50-point games weren’t a standard like they are today.

Enter Donald Trump. Already somewhat of a controversial figure and considered a “rising player” in the New York City real estate scene, Trump bought the Generals with the plan to eventually merge the USFL with the NFL.

The league instantly received tons of publicity, but soon after, the league fell into complete chaos thanks to Trump.

What made the USFL unique was its ridiculous theatrics and, of course, the fact that it played in the spring. It was a model that was working and receiving higher ratings on ABC and ESPN than Major League Baseball.

But Trump wasn’t having any of it, and he vowed to move the USFL to the fall to outright compete with the NFL.

“If God wanted football in the spring, he wouldn’t have created baseball,” Trump told ABC News way back when.

Naturally, USFL owners flocked to Trump’s side because he was the loudest voice in the room with the fattest wallet. But Tampa Bay Bandits owner John Bassett wasn’t having any of Trump’s BS.

Bassett was a staunch opponent of Trump’s plan to move the USFL to the fall, and as recently discovered by author Jeff Pearlman, he even threatened to punch Trump in the mouth.

In 1984 a USFL owner threatened to punch loathed @realDonaldTrump “in the mouth.” Here’s why https://t.co/nYGNlQyYsw pic.twitter.com/xhW5ZhV0qR

— jeffpearlman (@jeffpearlman) March 3, 2016

Now that’s what you call badass. I think we all need a little more John Bassett in our lives, don’t you?

After the 1985 season, Trump and Chicago Blitz owner Eddie Einhorn pushed hard for the change, and in a 12-2 vote, the owners elected to move the USFL to the fall. The goal was to force a merger with the NFL, but to do that, the USFL filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the league for $1.69 billion claiming the NFL had created a monopoly for TV rights, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The jury ruled against the NFL, but it awarded the USFL just $1 in damages (and since damages in antitrust lawsuits are tripled, the final amount was $3). Trump lost, and his bold plan to take on the NFL ultimately led to the USFL’s demise. The USFL would never play another football game, and the once promising thought of spring football never stuck around.

Oh, and it was just the beginning of Trump’s toxic relationship with the sports world.

In 2014, he bid to buy the Buffalo Bills and lost to Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pagula. He owns several golf courses around the world, and not once has any of them hosted a major PGA Tour event even though Trump claims that they’re the greatest golf courses in the world.

Publicly, he says he’s not salty about losing out on the Bills, but can you really believe him? Trump embodies everything NFL owners love: greed and money. It would’ve been a match made in heaven.

Wow. @nfl ratings are down big league. Glad I didn't get the Bills. Rather be lucky than good.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2014

I can’t tell you who to vote for, but 30-plus years later, it’s clear that Trump’s tactics haven’t changed in the slightest. He still bullies people, still lies about everything and still claims he can make America great again when clearly, he’s done just the opposite over his lifetime.

If Trump can singlehandedly destroy a promising football league that quickly, what could he destroy as the most powerful man in the free world? OK, maybe it’s a bit of stretch, but is it really?

No one knows for sure what a Trump presidency would look like, but his track record, including his short-lived run with the USFL, shows us just how toxic this could be. The USFL may have never actually been able to compete with the NFL, but who knows? Thanks to Trump, we’ll never know.

Sports and Trump don’t mix. Let’s hope the presidency and Trump don’t mix either.